The surveillance of ground topography is well known in the art. It is frequently the case that an aircraft or a satellite includes an image capture device such as a charge-coupled device (CCD). In ground surveillance it is highly desirable to detect whether there has been a failure in a man-made object such as a road, a pipeline, an electrical grid, or other man-made structures of practical interest. When detected, a determination is made if remedial action must be taken. Often times a visual inspection of ground topography is provided by a land-based crew that traverses an area by vehicle or foot, to determine if there is a failure. Airborne photographic systems can also be used for capturing images of adjacent areas. These images are then reviewed to determine if there is a failure.
In many cases these inspections must done by a ground site survey; individuals visit these locations and take measurements or obtain other forms of data on-sight. This process becomes cumbersome, costly, inconvenient, and in many cases unreliable and unsafe due to the dangers present in remote locations and to potential false interpretations due to worker fatigue and other factors. Furthermore, remote locations are frequently in mountains, deserts and forests that are difficult to reach and frequent inspection requires the placement of permanent maintenance and inspection crews adding to overall costs.